Justice: Province plans to close courtrooms and pursue fewer prosecutions

Trevor Howell, Calgary Herald03.08.2013

Calgary Police recruits from Class 181 stand at attention for their inspections during a recent graduation ceremony at Mewata Armouries. Twenty recruits graduated in the class. Photo by Ted Rhodes/Calgary Herald.

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A slimmed down budget for Alberta's justice department could result in the closure of several courtrooms and fewer prosecutions of minor property crimes, according to the provincial budget.

Operating and capital spending in the Justice and Solicitor General Department unveiled in Thursday's budget is set to decrease by $44.4 million dollars, to roughly $1.365 billion - mostly due to the elimination of a fund aimed at making communities safer.

Although the province will increase funding for court services by $2 million, up to $199 million, it plans to shut down at least six courtrooms and prosecute fewer offenders for minor crimes, such as shoplifting.

"We're basically targeting people who don't have a lengthy criminal record," said Justice Minister and Solicitor General Jonathan Denis. "If you are a repeat offender, the prosecutor still has the option of pursuing a criminal charge."

That's not to say first-time offenders will get a free pass. Rather, prosecutors will have more room to choose diversion programs, such as community service or restorative justice program, over pursuing criminal charges.

"The justice system should try to rehabilitate where it can, but when you want to put people behind bars our focus should be on the high-end offender ... people involved in murders, sexual assaults and things like that," said Denis.

The six courtrooms slated to closed will likely be in Calgary and Edmonton later this year, said Denis.

A large portion - roughly $20 million - of the department's overall $44-million budget decrease, is achieved through the elimination of the three-year Safe Communities Innovations Fund, which was set to to expire this year.

The budget did not include the increase to the legal aid program called for by many in the province's legal community.

Legal aid last received a budget increase in 2011, when the province gave the program an additional $5 million. Legal aid is partially funded by the Alberta Law Foundation, as well as the provincial government. But grants from the foundation, which receives interest payments on money held in trust by lawyers for their clients, have fallen drastically as record low interest rates and the economic downturn hurt its investment income.

Defence lawyers say there has been an increase in the number of defendants representing themselves in court. "It's scandalous how many people are going to court unrepresented," D'Arcy DePoe, president of the Criminal Trial Lawyers' Association in Edmonton, said Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the overall policing budget will slightly increase to $347 million, while a $13-million injection into the $226 million provincial police budget will boost RCMP ranks by 26 officers for 2013-14.

Budgets for municipal police forces, including Calgary and Edmonton, will remain flat-for the third straight year.

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Justice: Province plans to close courtrooms and pursue fewer prosecutions

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